State Lauds Kissimmee For Plugging Faulty Pipes

KISSIMMEE — State environmental regulators this week gave Kissimmee a pat on the back for its effort to plug leaky sewer pipes that so far have cost the city thousands of dollars in treatment costs.

However, both state and city officials agree the work has just begun.

''I think what the city has done so far is commendable,'' said Lee Miller of the state Department of Environmental Regulation. ''They need to push forward and do more of it.''

Miller met Wednesday with Water and sewage department director Brian Wheeler to discuss the problem.

The faulty pipes were discovered in April 1984. Since then thousands of gallons of groundwater and water from storm runoff have seeped into the city's sewage system. The seepage hinders sewage treatment at the city's two wastewater plants, which has increased the cost. The leaky pipes also have periodically raised the concentration of waste being discharged above levels approved by the state.

The city began tackling the problem last winter in the Kissimmee Highlands and Orange Gardens neighborhoods, where the groundwater seepage is thought to be the worst. Wheeler estimated that more than 60,000 gallons of water a day have been leaking into sewer lines in the Highlands area.

The city has managed to plug about 75 to 90 percent of the leaks in those two neighborhoods. However, the biggest headache -- finding and plugging pipes where rainwater runoff is entering the sewage system -- is yet to be resolved, Wheeler said. Most of that work will be in the dowtown area.

Wheeler said he plans to brief city commissioners on the project within the next two weeks and ask for more money to continue. The project has cost the city $550,000 so far.